The show, which will air its 800th episode before the end of season 22, has given viewers a look at 2,044 arrests in 140 U.S. cities (plus foreign locales like Russia, London and Hong Kong) since it debuted in 1989. The second longest-running show on Fox (after 'America's Most Wanted'), 'Cops' continues to be a ratings winner in its Saturday-night timeslot, drawing an average of five million viewers each week.

"We're doing gangbusters," series creator John Langley tells the Hollywood Reporter. "It's an existential variety show -- dramatic, life-threatening, philosophical and legal. We're still the only show on television with no script, no actors, no host and no re-enactments."Here's what the bad boys, bad boys are gonna do: continue running from the police, as Fox has given the greenlight for a 23rd season of its hit reality drama 'Cops.'

The show, which will air its 800th episode before the end of season 22, has given viewers a look at 2,044 arrests in 140 U.S. cities (plus foreign locales like Russia, London and Hong Kong) since it debuted in 1989. The second longest-running show on Fox (after 'America's Most Wanted'), 'Cops' continues to be a ratings winner in its Saturday-night timeslot, drawing an average of five million viewers each week.

"We're doing gangbusters," series creator John Langley tells the Hollywood Reporter. "It's an existential variety show -- dramatic, life-threatening, philosophical and legal. We're still the only show on television with no script, no actors, no host and no re-enactments."

Langley also takes issue with shows like the recent Steven Seagal reality series 'Lawman,' which he considers to be a poor knock-off of 'Cops.'

"He lectures everybody he arrests," Langley says of the series that revolved around Seagal on duty as a Louisiana sheriff's reserve deputy. "It reminds me a little of 'Armed and Famous,' where people like Erik Estrada pretended to be a cop. He should stick with movies."

Production on 'Lawman' was recently halted after a sexual harassment claim was made against Seagal by his assistant.

Meanwhile, though Langley may consider 'Lawman' and 'Armed and Famous' poor copies of 'Cops,' the long-running reality show has gotten plenty of pop culture love throughout the years.

The 'Bad Boys' theme song, by reggae group Inner Circle, has become an iconic, oft-used tune, while the show itself has been referenced in everything from fellow Fox series like 'The Simpsons,' 'Married ... with Children,' 'Futurama' and 'King of the Hill' to Howard Stern's show, the Will Smith/Martin Lawrence 'Bad Boys' movies, 'There's Something About Mary,' a hilarious 'South Park,' in which Cartman patrols the streets on his Big Wheel, and, of course, Comedy Central's 'Cops' parody gem, 'Reno 911!'